Information Frictions on Job Descriptions

With its key role in economic agency and empowerment, employment can provide women with more control over their lives. Yet this potential is only realized when women can find and obtain quality jobs with features that fit their preferences. In this project, I explore the role of information frictions on job descriptions in preventing women in India from finding quality jobs which are a good fit for them. I partner with a large Indian job board to examine the preferences of jobseekers over amenities that are typically missing from job posts but that may be particularly important to female jobseekers (such as threat of sexual harassment, training opportunities, interacting with strangers, and having a friend at the job). I then conduct an RCT with firms to explore why these amenities are omitted from job posts and to test whether providing information to firms can alleviate these frictions for female jobseekers.